10-13-16 We have to do better…

During lunch today, I decided to look at some Halloween costumes online. Big E had mentioned that he wanted to be a firefighter, so I wanted to price them out. So, I did the perfectly reasonable thing of googling ‘child fireman costume,’ and as expected, I was taken to a store with multiple fireman outfits. I perused them, and then out of curiosity, I thought, If Big E is a fireman, maybe C would like to be a police officer. So I searched for police officer outfits.

And that’s when I found my soapbox.

Let me start with… there are some fine options if your boys want to be a police man. The outfits are a nice dark blue, and they come with some accessories, like handcuffs and a baton. The boys looking back at you appear polite and respectable.

But what if your daughter wants to be a police officer? What is her option?

A short skirt, knee high shiny boots, and sunglasses to replace the baton. Oh and don’t forget the sassy stare into the camera. That’s right, folks… your daughter doesn’t actually get to dress like a police officer, she gets to dress as a second-rate stripper version of a police officer. Instead of a baton to protect herself and others, she gets a pair of sunglasses and a come hither look in her eye.

Moving on, I noticed that under the category of “Occupation and Military” there are 26 costumes for boys. What about my daughter? She can choose from 12. TWELVE. And while the boys get to be Special Ops commanders or physicists, the girls can be equestrians and Hollywood actresses. Out of the 12, I would say that 5 were respectable.

Oh, but when my daughter finally becomes a tween, surely her options will get better. No, they won’t. However, the skirts will get shorter. And when she enters adulthood, her choices will consist of skin tight clothing, with more skin than cloth.

I mean, look at the blatant difference between mens’ and women’ costumes!

We have to do better, people!!!

We have to stop dressing six year old girls like they walk the streets after bedtime. We need to stop feeding into the pedophile culture that says this is ok. We need to teach our girls that beauty is vanity and kindness is valuable. The culture isn’t going to do it for us. The women’s movement did many, many amazing things, but there was one lie it fed to women everywhere- that flaunting sexuality gave women power. Let’s be honest… it does the opposite. It feeds into abuse and domination. How does posing nude in a magazine or movie liberate you when it makes you a slave to every man that salivates over you? It says that no matter how smart you are, or how hard you try, your worth is still and always will be in your appearance.

I want more for my daughter.

I want her value to be reflected in the way she confronts the world, not flaunting her body in a desperate attempt to seek attention and acceptance, but rather conduct herself with dignity in the freedom of knowing that she has already been accepted and loved. And in that knowledge she can be free to pursue her interests and passions, regardless of what men see.

We have to do better!!

PS- I know you can find modest costumes for little girls, but I just wanted to point out that there is no such thing as an immodest costume for a little boy.